On a New Adventure

Santos, Florida – my new destination this morning. On my way with a rented mountain bike from Santos Bike Shop, water and snacks, and a huge ton of adrenalin. I signed up for a women’s beginner clinic on mountain bike riding. Well, ok, in Florida it is trail riding. That’s enough for me. I had never been on trail or mountain bike riding. Taking a class was the way to go for me. I signed up for a morning of fun.

My brother tipped me off to what kind of shoes I would need. I felt prepared at least for that. And with that fluorescent pink bike complimenting my black and pink shoes, looking good was taken care of.

The class started at 8:45 am. That was perfect. With 1 1/2 hours of driving, I even got to sleep in. I thought I was going to be early. Unfortunately, I missed the almost non-existent sign turning into the Vortex Trailhead. I turned around, and naturally, there was a better sign coming from this direction. pulling in, I saw quite a few people making their bikes ready for the classes. Others that were in my class had traveled as long as 3 hours to come to this clinic. All of a sudden I didn’t feel so crazy.

The instructor for our class, Misty, is an experienced rider. She had us introduce ourselves and give a little background. I was definitely the most inexperienced as far as mountain bikes. This was my first time ever on one. Everyone else had much more experience. My ‘roady’ skills gave me away right away. Misty knew I rode clipped in without me even saying. Yea…my nickname the rest of the day was ‘Roady’.

We started with some basics:  the neutral position, the ready position, placement of hands on the handle-bars, placement of feet on pedals, moving the bike, braking. Sounds easy. Not so much. We did a few laps in a field. Misty watched and gave pointers on improvement for each of us. Next…hitting the trail. We went off into the Vortex. hmmm… that sounded ominous.

First, we navigated to a little hill on the blue course. We tried going up the hill, using the techniques we had just learned. It wasn’t too bad. Fairly easy. Just the downhill sliding on the sandy trail was scary. Body position fixes everything. Misty tipped each one of us off on how to make the next attempt easier. Voila! I did not slide at all the next time.

Then we moved to a little more challenging hill. Yea…I didn’t make it up the hill. But I didn’t fall either. A win! We each took another round at the hill. This time I did make it. Easy!

Along the way, Misty pointed out two hazards to watch out for: poison ivy and stinging nettles. Just because something has a pretty flower doesn’t mean you should touch it! None of us did that today. We were in the woods, after all.

After these few hills and switchbacks, we just rode through the trail, to an easier trail. Just because it was ‘easy’ didn’t mean it didn’t have challenges for a newbie. There were roots, rocks, trees, leaves, turns. I kept a bit of distance between me and the next person. I practiced the fundamentals I had learned in the morning. There was no coasting. Practicing neutral position, keeping my heel down, feathering brakes, standing up. Oh, and not to forget ‘chicken wings’ — keep those elbows out.

I had so much fun. The other riders in my class were phenomenal! Everyone cheered each other on. We were there for fun! And I certainly had fun. I can’t wait to do this again!!

Ciao,
Diana | TeamOne